1. Field of the Invention
This invention resides in the field of process equipment used in the treatment of materials in liquid media by ultrasound, and also in the processing of petroleum and petroleum-based fuels.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of ultrasound for driving chemical reactions is well known. Descriptions are found in Suslick, K. S., Science 247: 1439 (1990), and Mason, T. J., Practical Sonochemistry, A User's Guide to Applications in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Ellis Norwood Publishers, West Sussex, England (1991). A variety of ultrasound systems have been described, and among the most prominent are “probe”-type systems, which include an ultrasonic transducer that generates ultrasonic energy and transmits that energy to a probe, i.e., an ultrasonic horn, for amplification.
Uses of ultrasound have recently been extended to include petroleum processing, notably for the desulfurization of fossil fuels and the conversion of high molecular weight components of petroleum to lower molecular weight products, thereby improving the conversion of crude oil, and particularly of crude oil resids, to useful materials. Disclosures of these processes and the equipment in which they are performed are found in Yen, T. F., et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,402,939, issued Jun. 11, 2002, Gunnerman, R. W., U.S. Pat. No. 6,500,219, issued Dec. 31, 2002, Gunnerman, R. W., U.S. Pat. No. 6,652,992, issued Nov. 25, 2003, Gunnerman, R. W., et al., United States Pre-Grant Patent Application Publication No. US 2003-0051988 A1, published Mar. 20, 2003, Gunnerman, R. W., United States Pre-Grant Patent Application Publication No. US 2004-0079680 A1, published Apr. 29, 2004, Gunnerman, R. W., et al., U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/440,445, filed May 16, 2003, and Gunnerman, R. W., et al., U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/803,802, filed Mar. 17, 2004. The contents of each of the documents cited in this paragraph and elsewhere throughout this specification are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entirety for all legal purposes capable of being served thereby.
Ultrasound processing offers a vast potential for the petroleum industry, but its value is highly sensitive to processing costs, and particularly the energy consumption involved in generating the ultrasonic vibrations. The present invention offers improvements in ultrasound processing equipment that provide a more efficient use of energy, enabling the processing of particularly large quantities of material in a highly economic manner.